The Great and Powerful Albus Dumbledore (hear the sarcasm)
by novonia
Summary: At the 1945 award ceremony for order of merlin first class winner Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.


a/n: just a little Idea I had

 **Godrics Hollow early 1900s**

He never noticed me, that was the way I wanted it, I however always noticed them. I always presented the same persona and it has served me well through the years, I may have been lonely and talked down to on occasion, but I never stood out like they did - the shadows hid me thoroughly. People are uncomfortable around those they think are of a limited or shattered mind, my mother understood this intimately. This is why she in her full Slytherin glory acted in such a way and its why I as a daughter of her house was schooled to the same from the earliest opportunity. She understood as a pureblood daughter we had little choice in things so it was best to hide all our strengths and to fake weakness. They never noticed me at all because I wasn't worth noticing, such was the oversight that lead to their undoing.

 **London, Ministry of Magic, Order of Merlin Ball, Yule 1945**

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was looking over his little kingdom with a sense of great pride, anyone who was anyone was here to congratulate him on his victory. The war has been over for a few short months and the time to rebuild and celebrate, most of those who had left the country during such hard times and come back to their home and consequently were here to show off their wealth and for those lucky few a new heir or scion of their house.

A loud clanging noise sounded and Albus eyes shined even more so than usual, this was a part of the evening he was most looking forward to. The ministers voice came from a large platform on one side of the room, it was ostentatiously decorated just to his liking, and it was announced that this was the time for those that had something special to say about Albus, his character, or his heroic deed to step forward and make a speech or tell a story. Several people stepped forward and began to make speeches one at a time, a few told stories - like that Griselda Marchbanks about his N.E.W.T.s.

There were only two that he didn't recognize, one was a young boy not yet even in Hogwarts that talked about how his life was saved by Albus Dumbledore, the other was a stunning young woman. Oh how she was lovely, red hair that put his own to shame in color and outclassed it in its shine, her hair was all pulled ever so carefully to the right and secured with beautiful silver pins and adorned with silver geranium flowers. The modest mint green dress matched her hair handsomely and ever so slightly brushed the floor as she graced the platform with her presence, she looked at us all and we were snared by that gaze and pulled in - silence reigned as we waited with baited breath for the lovely creature to speak.

"I first must say, of course, congratulations to Mr. Dumbledore for the defeat of Grindelwald and the end of all the horror we have had these past years," She begins a light ladylike clap and continues. "May you always find the rewards you deserve for _such_ a brave and heroic act." Everyone immediately claps and roars in agreement to such a statement and I can't help but grin. "Now, all who have come before me have spoken of this man, his life before today, and how much he has done for us all. I can't help but think it just cannot do him justice so I have prepared something much more elaborate to share with you all. It has taken me several weeks to prepare this for you, but first I make this vow," Suddenly magic pulsed throughout the entirety of the ballroom and settled amongst us like a warm beam of sunlight. "I present to you all these memories, they are mine and private, but they are true and I wish to share them with you all, this I swear." As the magic of her vow fades she presses the tip of her wand to her temple and pulls out a long strand of memory, it clings to the tip of her wand as she turns around and points at the large white wall behind her that is a perfect placement for everyone in the building to see and says. "ostendunt memoriae"

 **Azkaban, Yule 1961**

It was always this time of year when Albus Dumbledore began to have nightmares of his last days of public adoration, and how it all came crashing down with one woman, a vow of truth, and a handful of memories. Memories that showed things he'd rather never see the light of day, like his young teenage self in rapturous coitus with one Gellert Grindelwald along with several other such scenes showing the same but also showing their progressing age. The last of such scenes showing him 'defeating' his lover still caught up in the afterglow, but the most damning was the showing of a very live Grindelwald holding a very familiar newsprint behind cell doors. It didn't take long after the last memory to find himself in magic restraining bands and in a ministry cell, not much longer after that they got Gellert in a ministry cell too - transferred from Nurmengard - and the both of them pumped full of veritaserum. The whole plan for 'the greater good' came out and the both of them were thrown in to Azkaban for life. Albus always had a whole host of nightmares and fears for the dementors to feed off of, but at Yule he always dreamed of silky red hair and the end of life as he knew it.

No leads were ever found that lead to the identity of the saviour, the lady red as she came to be known. The last trace of her came after a month of intensive searches, a beautiful shiny red letter left on the desk of the minister that simply asked that any reward left to her was to be put towards a financial trust to pay for a new department that would solely deal with magical children and their welfare.

 **Godrics Hollow, Yule, 1985**

Phoebe Bagshot watched from her window as the family next door happily decorated an outdoor christmas tree, the mothers red locks would have rivaled her own had they not turned silvery white not but a few years past. Yule had become the most celebrated holiday in the Bagshot household 4 decades ago, and would for the rest of eternity their most celebrated holiday.

A/n: Phoebe is mine, I created her to be Bathilda's daughter - Bathilda is considered to be a bit crazy in the wizarding world though she is also considered very knowledgeable. I wanted the 'crazy' to be a cover for her, to hide behind. Phoebe hides in a different way she is considered rather dumb and slow... maybe autistic, but like her mum its just a cover. The Bagshots really adored Gellert, Phoebe probably even had a crush on him. So phoebe gets some revenge by outing their relationship and the fact that Albus never killed Gellert in 'defeating' him. Veritaserum takes care of the rest, perhaps in this story Albus still repudiates Gellert but had a bigger hand in the plan to become the overlord/king/supreme ruler etc. Albus dies in Azkaban, the money in trust is wisely invested and lets the children department flourish so Tom Riddle never gets abused and therefore never becomes Lord Voldemort. The scene at the end is of course a very happy Potter family. :) Hope I explained where I was going with this one-shot, and I hope you enjoyed.


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